Apparatus of this type are generally used in the area of medicine for the sterilization and/or disinfection of operation apparatus, endoscopes, syringes, and the like, which cannot be sterilized and/or disinfected with hot air and/or hot steam at elevated temperatures. For this purpose a liquid disinfectant, usually in the form of a disinfectant concentrate, which is mixed with fresh water, is led to a disinfection chamber, in which the parts that are to be disinfected have been placed. There the disinfection takes place over a predetermined period of time, after which according to a certain program the used disinfectant is drained by means of the outlet. This is followed by a rinsing cycle for the removal of the disinfectant, after which the disinfected parts, if desired after drying, can be removed from the chamber.
Even though the pumped fresh water usually contains no germs, and almost the entire conduit has been rinsed with disinfectant, there are still problems with germs, especially Pseudomonas (Pseudomonas aeruginosa), which cannot be eliminated from the inlet area. This can lead to a new contamination of the already disinfected apparatus with the consequence that such contaminated apparatus can pose a danger to the patients to be treated.
Hence, the invention has the purpose of making available such a disinfection apparatus, which after the disinfection reliably excludes a contamination during the rinsing with water.